One o’clock: It’s dark and gloomy but no rain this morning. We’ll have more rain before the day is out. I speculate that there was about two inches of rain in the gauge (in my backyard) for the last thirty-six hours. Many areas not far away received lots more than we received here. ~~ When I sat on my front porch, eating my lunch, I was able to photograph for the first time a Hummingbird at one of my feeders.
Postscript, 7/14/2013: Over half-inch of rain Saturday night, Sunday morning.
That is one brilliant squirrel (or chipmunk?)!! Notice that it is raining hard!!No, I didn’t take the picture. A thoughtful friend sent it. This, and others, found with an Internet search.
Another adorable picture but it is copyrighted so you’ll have to click on this link.
Yesterday, I learned of a feature with Dave’s Garden where I could ask a question and perhaps receive an answer regarding the name of the mystery plant in “Pandora’s Garden.” In less than 24 hours I had a reply. I went to the Internet for additional information. This is just one of many links I found and read: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=maar14 . Quite frankly, I have never heard of this plant but reading about it gives me lots of ideas for cultivating it next Spring. It will never again have the luxury of so much space in the garden!!
Read more: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2591/#ixzz2YfZniO9j
and: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MAARD
This is an interesting article. The author rightly captured the Spring gardener:
Most gardeners look forward to spring when garden centers are bursting at the seams with new plants and possibilities for their gardens. They rush hither and thither gathering up beautiful specimens and bedding pants. They plant them in containers and in strategic places in the garden, and then they sit back to view their handiwork. For a while all is well, and the gardeners puff up, sit back, and look around in a self-satisfied manner, completely convinced that their gardening skills and talents are extraordinary.
But then, summer comes along. To their dismay, most of the pretty spring flowers become scruffy and unkempt as summer’s heat and humidity take their toll. The gardens and the gardeners wither. The gardens struggle along, and the gardeners decide to spend more time on indoor pursuits.
Some wise gardeners knew that this would happen. They had observed their gardens for years, and they knew which plants would endure the heat and live to put on a show in the fall. They knew that, like gardeners, the earth breathes a sigh of relief as the cooler breezes of autumn banish the blistering heat of summer. Those plants that have been biding their time burst into bloom. Gardeners who planned for this time venture back outside to enjoy the revitalized garden and pleasant fall weather.
Turks’ Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus) has adorned itself with bright red flowers that hang from its limbs in glorious profusion. Drooping spiraled blossoms that resemble flowers of an unopened hibiscus dangle from the branches as if the bush had adorned itself with long drooping earrings in preparation for a ball.
One comment reads: “Hummingbirds love it and it is very hardy and blooms all summer and fall until it freezes. It is invasive, though, in my beds. It pops up everywhere and I prune it back often and I still have too much of it. but…the hummingbirds.”
Confession: I’ve read so many web sites and tried to process so much information. Note that mine has blooms that stand up and do not “dangle from the branches as if the bush had adorned itself with long drooping earrings….” Before the mystery is labeled “case closed,” I want to find the exact name for the variety in my garden.
Footnote, Saturday, July 13, 2013, 9:40 AM: OK, I have my answer — specifically Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii.
Lorraine here with a forwarded email message.
One that we need to keep circulating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subject: Do You remember Kate Smith ??
PLEASE READ AND LISTEN —- WONDERFUL!!! Sometimes we forget.
Do you remember Kate Smith?
Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said when he and a million other guys first heard her sing “God Bless America” on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.
Here are the facts…
First Public Singing of “God Bless America.”
The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of “GOD BLESS AMERICA”. But before you watch, you should also know the story of the song.
The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we’d have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.
This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith.
Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, “Ain’t over till the fat lady sings”. Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.
Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (also wrote “White Christmas”) and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country.
When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before – way back in 1917. He gave it to Kate Smith and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.
This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, “You’re In The Army Now.” At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it’s Ronald Reagan.
To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry, and for many generations of Americans to follow. Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you will enjoy it and treasure it even more.
NOW HERE IS HOW “GOD BLESS AMERICA” SHOULD BE SUNG!
Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=TnQDW-NMaRs
Many people do not know there is a lead into the song. It usually begins with “God Bless America.” Here it is the entire song as written and originally song.
Lorraine here (again) with another link to information from the Internet:
http://blog.timesunion.com/chuckmiller/the-history-and-legacy-of-god-bless-america/2315/
Enjoy !!
Thanks to friends, I get messages, and videos, I would never find on my own. Listen to this Marine sing a verse of The Star Spangled Banner most of us have never heard.
(Yes, it is dead. I ran over it with my KIA.)
If properly identified, it was a Black Rat Snake.
This beautiful visitor lingered for hours on the welcome mat outside my patio door. S/he took the “welcome” seriously?!
I visited the Internet (Bing) for an answer to How many eggs does a Bluebird lay?
8:45 PM and “Mama Blue” is on the nest. Hope and pray with me that all the eggs hatch and the babies survive. Watching the babies will be so entertaining.
(10:00 PM.) A television program found me; I did not check a schedule. I just watched an entertaining episode about American eagles on PBS. Grown men with sophisticated cameras were recording nesting habits of the eagles. I’m in good company (IMHO)!!
Three Quarters & Counting 